1935
At their first recorded meeting, the group of fanciers who organized the American Boxer Club met February 16, 1935, in Luchow's Restaurant in New York City, . After several subsequent meetings, Mrs. Rudolph Gaertner, Secretary, made a formal application for membership in the American Kennel Club on March 21. Total membership: seventeen.
The application listed Harold Palmedo (se Sumbula) as President and Alexander A. Nitt (Esto Alpha) as Treasurer. Mrs. Gaertner (mother of Mrs. Palmedo) was Secretary and Dr. Clinton Reed Barker, AKC delegate. Also on the board were Mrs. Arthur M Lewis (a judge), Miss Marcia Fennessey (Cirrol), Mrs. L.W. Whittemore, Mrs. H.B. Palmedo (Lillian), F. Greenhagen (asst. secy.) and A. V. Barber. Other original members were Mr. and Mrs. John P. Wagner (Mazelaine), Miriam Hostetter Young (Barmere), Max Ketzel, Mrs. Durfee, Walter and Katherine Lippert (Hinschenfeld) and Mrs. Nitt.
The club received membership in the AKC on May 14. Immediately they petitioned to have the Boxer moved from the Non-Sporting Group to Working, which was granted Sept. 1. The AKC ran their first Boxer cover on the July Gazette - Ch. Sigurd v Dom of Barmere, owned by Mrs. Young, had the honor. Mrs. Lewis was responsible for the AKC Gazette Boxer breed column, the first of which appeared in the June 1935, and continued sporadically thereafter. Covered in these early columns were the clubs activities, obedience tests, worms, dirty kennels, and ear cropping (considered doomed then).
1936
A copy of the annual report for 1936, the earliest available, shows a membership already expanded to 35. With 35 Boxers competing on June 6, 1936, the club held its first specialty in conjunction with the Greenwich (Conn.) KC. at Porchester, NY. The following year, the club held its Specialty with North Westchester KC (Katonah) and continued to do so until 1943.
Ch. Corso v Uracher Wasserfall se Sumbula won the first specialty, a win he repeated in 1937. Corso had been imported by the Palmedos and finished in late 1935. He, too, was handled by Harry Harnett.
The Gazette for this year lists Mrs. A.M. Lewis and James Trullinger as two of the eight judges approved only for Boxers. All-rounders included Tony Rost, Alva Rosenburg, Frank Foster Davis, J.J. Duncan, Anton Korbel, Enno and Marie Meyer (who had Boxers), Louis J Murr and, for Working Group only, Earl T. Adair.
Frank Bigler, a well known columnist and Boxer breeder, took over the Boxer column in Popular Dogs. He had previously written for Dogdom and Kennel Review. Alice Rosenthal and J.P. Wagner handled similar duties for Dog News.
Probably the most controversial issue of the day revolved around the official Standard. There were several bones of contention--- the most frequent being proportions (especially of the head), color and size. The first Standard adopted by the ABC had been espoused by a group led by the Palmedos. From what can be determined, they assisted the AKC in translating the first Standard from German into English.
Both Lillian Palmedo and her mother, Ida Gaertner, spoke fluent German. They apparently had either a very early, unrevised copy of the German Standard (from before 1920) or the Austrian Standard prior to the time the Austrians adopted the newer German version. The Palmedo's se Sumbula Boxers were heavily bred on the ben Satan line from Austria. Boxers in Austria were then very plain, no white was allowed above the shoulder line and no white at all was considered even better! Also, the Standard adopted by these people provided for exact proportions of the dog's body and head which were, at that time, actually measured by the judge.
This first Standard was adopted and sent to the AKC before the ABC membership--- such as the Wagners---heard about the proportion and color requirements. Most breeders here had been using the current German Standard. An explosion was not long in coming!
Perhaps this quote from Dan Gordon's book, The Boxer, gives the clearest view of the situation:
The original members of the ABC were not at that time prominent in breeding circles and were not too familiar with the German Standard or the dog then considered most acceptable in German circles. Much of the stock seen then was of an old German and Austrian type. This group was working under an obsolete standard.
As most importations were from Germany, they conformed to that Standard, but on arrival here, they were to be judged under an entirely different standard. Confusion reigned. The original heads of the ABC were also opposed to white [markings], a color very prevalent in the von Dom breeding. It was soon realized that something would have to be done. And something was. In April 1938, the Standard was revised.
John Wagner fired the opening guns of the loyal opposition in the July, 1936, Popular Dog article, "Correct Boxer Type vs American Standard." Wagner pointed out the color discrepancies and the fact that a section on head proportions which had been dropped from the 1911 German Standard sometime prior to 1920, now found a home in the new ABC Boxer Standard.
Mrs. Wagner followed with an article on color in the July Dog News, followed by another article by John Wagner in the Feb., 1937, Popular Dogs, "More About Boxer Type," which was a plea to adopt the current German Standard.
We quote Mr. Wagner:
The German Boxer is so new to America that most of our basic breeding stock is of German origin, with additional imports arriving almost daily. Under these conditions, the adoption by the ABC of its own standards, definitely differing from, rather than conforming to, the accepted German version was an unforgivable blunder bound to cause trouble.
The German publication, Boxer Blaetter, even took note of the situation, criticizing the head proportions found in the AKC version of the Standard.
Part 1c: 1937-1939
